The weekend’s FA Cup action provided its traditional glut of acca-busting surprises with non-League Macclesfield’s win over Premier League Crystal Palace being the pick of the bunch.
The most surprising success story was Manchester City’s 10-1 thumping of League One Exeter City.
Sky Bet confirmed that 12 customers had backed City to win by that exact scoreline.
They had particular reason to cheer Rico Lewis’s goal one minute into stoppage time that concluded the scoring.
But not everybody did.
Punter Loses £900 From Early Cash Out
A picture surfaced on social media of a bet365 customer who had placed £5 on Manchester City to win 10-1 at odds of 200-1.
After City took a 9-1 lead through Ryan McAidoo with just four minutes remaining, the bettor lost their nerve and cashed out.
That still returned £111.67 for a £5 stake, but waiting until the final whistle would have bagged £1,005 winnings.
Manchester United Most Backed To Win The FA Cup
Things were not so rosy on the red side of Manchester which meant more bad news for bet365 customers.
The bookie confirmed that Manchester United were the best-backed team to win the FA Cup ahead of the third round.
Almost a quarter of stakes on the competition by bet365 customers backed Bruno Fernades and co to achieve Wembley glory.
It proved to be costly confidence when we do not even know who will be Manchester United’s next manager.
A Danny Welbeck-inspired Brighton dumped United out of the cup with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford.
The top five best-backed teams to win the 2025-26 FA Cup on bet365 ahead of the third round were:
- Manchester United 23% of stakes
- Arsenal 19%
- Tottenham 7%
- Everton 5%
- Chelsea 5%
Biggest And Most Bizarre Football Bets
King of the accumulators has to be roofer Mick Gibbs, who won £500,000 from a 30p bet during the 2000-2001 season.
The Manchester United fan compiled a 15-bet acca that concluded with Bayern Munich beating Valencia in the 2001 Champions League final.
Bayern put him through the ringer as they fell 1-0 behind after just three minutes, jeopardising his entire bet.
Gibbs, from Lichfield, Staffs, had predicted the champions of England’s top five leagues, plus the three divisions below the Scottish Premiership.
He had also correctly called Leicester to win rugby union’s Premiership, Surrey to win the County Cricket Premiership and Gloucester to lift cricket’s NatWest trophy, all in 2000, together with predicting league wins for Arsenal, Hibernian and Falkirk in August 2000.
That eclectic selection produced odds of 1,666,666-1 and Bayern’s 5-4 win on penalties in the Champions League final gave the 59-year-old a £500,000 return on his original 30p stake.
That win eclipsed his previous claim to be called king of the accas.
Gibbs pocketed £157,400 from a £2.50 acca in 1999 when Manchester United won the Treble.
Scoring Big With Football Accas
Wolves fan Brian Matthews turned £15 into £112,500 by compiling a winning football acca in 2016.
Matthews chose 15 games and bet on both teams to score in each match in his local Betfred in Dudley.
During the Saturday games that November weekend, he was grateful for Middlesbrough midfielder Marten de Roon’s stoppage time equaliser at Premier League leaders Manchester City.
His bet was complete when Harry Kane rattled in an equaliser for Spurs at Arsenal in Sunday’s north London derby.
Rory Lewis from Edinburgh scooped over £100,000 from an unlikely £100 acca during the 2011-12 season in Scotland.
Lewis chose four non-League teams to win their Scottish Cup first-round ties by four goals or more.
Cove Rangers, Huntly and Cutler all obliged while his final selection, Wick Academy ran riot, thumping Coldstream 9-1.
Lucky Seven For One Londoner
Some accas are based on football knowledge and inspired choice, while some are simply pure luck.
Londoner Steve Sales invested £1.40 in one of the most random accas in football betting history.
Sales took a punt on the Scottish League Cup second round second legs in July 2016.
He selected Dundee, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County all to win their ties by the same 7-0 scoreline.
The 54-year-old placed his 276,000-1 wager at Betfred in Sutton High Street and landed winnings of £57,990.20.
The £1 Million Goal
Kitchen fitter Daman Chick bagged a life-changing £1 million win without realising during the final of Euro 2016.
The Aston Villa fan entered Bet Victor’s £1 million challenge to predict the first goalscorer and the time of the goal as Portugal tackled France.
Chick’s outlandish selection was Portugal’s Eder, a 28-year-old striker who had failed to score in any of his 13 games for Swansea City that season.
His prediction was an 84th-minute goal.
That Eder goal arrived in the 109th minute during extra time.
Portugal secured a 1-0 win and Chick’s forecast had been closest to the correct time.
Bet Victor had to launch an appeal to track the winner down as he had flown away on holiday without realising he was a millionaire.
Relative Success
There have been some notable success stories when it has come to betting on relatives to make their mark in football.
Perhaps the biggest show of faith came from Peter Edwards, grandfather of in-form Fulham midfielder Harry Wilson
When Wilson was just 18 months old his grandad placed a £50 bet that the toddler would one day play for Wales.
William Hill granted odds of 2500-1 when the bet was placed in 2000.
Wilson made his debut for Wales in 2013 aged just 16, becoming his country’s youngest ever international as a substitute against Belgium.
At the same time he earned his grandad a cool £125,000 payout.
Dad Knows Best
Mick Tunnicliffe believed that his nine-year-old son Ryan would one day play for his beloved Manchester United.
He placed a £100 bet in 2002 that Ryan would make a first-team debut for the Red Devils.
Tunnicliffe junior came on as a substitute in Manchester United’s League Cup third-round win in 2012.
His 13-minute cameo earned his dad £10,000
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland won his one and only England cap as a second half substitute against Greece in 2006.
That was enough to help a syndicate run by his dad win £10.000.
When Chris was 14, Eddie Kirkland and friends had laid a £100 bet at 100-1 that he would one day play for his country.
